Senior Health: Keep the Good Times Going
Health news and tips for seniors.
Exercise payoff grows with time
Looking for a motivation to exercise? Try this: Physical activity may pack a bigger therapeutic wallop than it did when you were younger. That’s the implication of a study published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Logically enough, the research found that “exercise efficiency” declines with age— that is, that older people need more oxygen than young ones to perform the same exercise tasks. But researchers also found that a sustained program of regular exercise could close much of that gap. Ninety minutes of exercise three days a week improved exercise efficiency by 30 percent among seniors, compared with only 2 percent in younger people.
Be sure you know about side effects
In a recent study of older arthritis patients, one-third had experienced falls, urinary incontinence or loss of cognitive function—all of which can be caused by pain-relief medications —but only 44 percent recalled that their doctors had warned them about these possible side effects. Says Philip Scaduto, M.D., an internist at Saint Clare’s Hospital: “There’s a kind of perfect storm going on, with more drugs than ever, doctors busier than ever and drugs being advertised directly to consumers as never before.” The result can be confusion—and the information sheet your pharmacist hands you, says the doctor, is often “cluttered with unnecessary information.” The lesson? When your doctor gives you a prescription, make sure you ask about the most likely side effects (don’t worry about the 1-in-10,000 ones) and understand and remember what you hear in response. “For example,” says Dr. Scaduto, “when I prescribe ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure, I always warn patients there’s a 10 percent chance of developing a dry cough.”
Save muscle by eating meat
Aging brings the loss of muscle mass, but French researchers in the Journal of Physiology say eating meat, soybeans or legumes can help to slow that process. That’s because these protein-rich foods contain an amino acid called leucine, which works to restore the imbalance that develops with age between the body’s natural muscle-building and musclebreakdown processes.
Don’t let the soaps keep you couch-bound
When 289 women in their 70s without dementia were recently polled, those who cited daytime dramas as their favorite TV shows performed less well than other women on tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills. That doesn’t prove that soap operas dull the mind, experts explain, but it may reflect a known correlation between an inert lifestyle and a greater likelihood of cognitive decline. So stay active!
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